Reviews were mixed for Giants’ running game after debut – New York Giants News

There was nothing great about the 18 snaps the Giants’ starting offensive line logged Friday in preseason opening loss to the Steelers. There also was nothing egregious and, in this case, no news is better than bad news.

“We did some good things, other things we could do better,’’ right guard Justin Pugh said.

For one night, the young tackles held up. Ereck Flowers on the left side and Bobby Hart on the right side did not allow a pressure, quarterback hit or sack in their 12 pass-block opportunities, according to Pro Football Focus.

As far as coach Ben McAdoo’s stated of goal of establishing a presence in the run game, well, that will have to wait at least another week. The Giants ran it 23 times and averaged just 3.2 yards per attempt. Paul Perkins, the starting running back, gained 7 yards on his first carry but then lost 4 and 2 yards on his next two tries, finishing with 3 yards on five attempts.

“I think there’s a lot of promising things out there, everybody did really well, everybody saw the holes really well,’’ Perkins said. “Offensive line did a really good job blocking. When there were holes, there were holes, and the stuff we were messing up on were minor fundamental things, something easy that we can clean up.’’

McAdoo said there were “some hits and some misses’’ in the running game and pointed out Perkins’ longest run of the night as wasteful.

“First play of the ballgame, Perkins was one-on-one with the safety, we need more than 7 yards there, he’s got to make him miss, he’s got to work him over,’’ McAdoo said. “We got to at least get a first down out of…